Thank you for articulating this so well. In the face of these enormous trends and events it is very tempting to think that agency is in the hands of leaders, or organisations - others - and that our role is to observe, comment, reflect, but ultimately just await a resolution. Whereas the conditions that give our communities and polities resilience are built up over time through immeasurable small actions, including our own. Our individual contributions beyond observation and analysis are necessary but never individually sufficient.
I have been an admirer of your writing and your work for a long time and want to thank you for sharing thoughts that have also been similarly percolating in my mind. This moment requires us to be urgently and intentionally focused on working to make sure that we do not lose to the malaise of the last few years, and more importantly keep working on the big knotty challenges.
I appreciate you calling it out too where there has been too much American influence, and acknowledging that we are witnesses to this moment. Beyond America, it is important to bear witness to the different calamities and it calls to mind the poem 'First they came' by Martin Niemöller. We can no longer be passive.
One thing I have been thinking about is the important of telling the stories that matter especially considering that there is a lot of noise and the good bits of what is going on can be missed. I wonder if you have thought about how we do this? I mention this as someone who has seen the evolution of media and now at a moment where much effort is required across all sides to get the stories being told where people are ... e.g. especially with the younger population and places like TikTok and other mediums. Otherwise we risk losing a generation or more to deep cynicism, paralysis about the status quo and lack of civic engagement because they do not realize the power that they have.
Thank you for sharing and lets purpose to continue taking action because this is our time.
Hi Polly, I read this physically nodding along. I agree with it all and am grateful to you for articulating it so well. Great stuff. However, I sense that you want this piece to not just be agreed with by those who already share your view, but to also influence those who might not or might be sitting on the fence.
I therefore wonder: do you have any thoughts about what messages, and from whom, would mobilise/persuade people who are less inclined to immediately agree?
Secondly, one potent motivator might be love of one's country, but arguably we need more internationalism, not more nationalism. ('How to run a country' becomes 'How to run a world'!). What are your thoughts on that?
Such great questions. I’m impressed by the work of organisations like Round Our Way exploring narratives and messengers to tell climate stories in new ways. At UAL we founded a Storytelling Institute that looked the science and art of narrative change. I think government can and should also lead with moral courage.
On internationalism - yes, though I think that can and probably must be grounded in love of country and love of community to be successful.
Interesting you highlight lower consumption as a potential consequence of this inflection point - I'd welcome hearing more on this point. Could this be a good thing (reorientating society towards greater community, reducing environmental impacts of high material consumption) or a bad thing (impact on GDP, jobs, etc.), or both?
Both, probably. It’s a bit like what we saw in the pandemic - huge harm, but with some very positive upsides, though those were concentrated among those with the most resources.
Thank you for articulating this so well. In the face of these enormous trends and events it is very tempting to think that agency is in the hands of leaders, or organisations - others - and that our role is to observe, comment, reflect, but ultimately just await a resolution. Whereas the conditions that give our communities and polities resilience are built up over time through immeasurable small actions, including our own. Our individual contributions beyond observation and analysis are necessary but never individually sufficient.
Hi Polly,
I have been an admirer of your writing and your work for a long time and want to thank you for sharing thoughts that have also been similarly percolating in my mind. This moment requires us to be urgently and intentionally focused on working to make sure that we do not lose to the malaise of the last few years, and more importantly keep working on the big knotty challenges.
I appreciate you calling it out too where there has been too much American influence, and acknowledging that we are witnesses to this moment. Beyond America, it is important to bear witness to the different calamities and it calls to mind the poem 'First they came' by Martin Niemöller. We can no longer be passive.
One thing I have been thinking about is the important of telling the stories that matter especially considering that there is a lot of noise and the good bits of what is going on can be missed. I wonder if you have thought about how we do this? I mention this as someone who has seen the evolution of media and now at a moment where much effort is required across all sides to get the stories being told where people are ... e.g. especially with the younger population and places like TikTok and other mediums. Otherwise we risk losing a generation or more to deep cynicism, paralysis about the status quo and lack of civic engagement because they do not realize the power that they have.
Thank you for sharing and lets purpose to continue taking action because this is our time.
Hi Polly, I read this physically nodding along. I agree with it all and am grateful to you for articulating it so well. Great stuff. However, I sense that you want this piece to not just be agreed with by those who already share your view, but to also influence those who might not or might be sitting on the fence.
I therefore wonder: do you have any thoughts about what messages, and from whom, would mobilise/persuade people who are less inclined to immediately agree?
Secondly, one potent motivator might be love of one's country, but arguably we need more internationalism, not more nationalism. ('How to run a country' becomes 'How to run a world'!). What are your thoughts on that?
Such great questions. I’m impressed by the work of organisations like Round Our Way exploring narratives and messengers to tell climate stories in new ways. At UAL we founded a Storytelling Institute that looked the science and art of narrative change. I think government can and should also lead with moral courage.
On internationalism - yes, though I think that can and probably must be grounded in love of country and love of community to be successful.
Interesting you highlight lower consumption as a potential consequence of this inflection point - I'd welcome hearing more on this point. Could this be a good thing (reorientating society towards greater community, reducing environmental impacts of high material consumption) or a bad thing (impact on GDP, jobs, etc.), or both?
Both, probably. It’s a bit like what we saw in the pandemic - huge harm, but with some very positive upsides, though those were concentrated among those with the most resources.